LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska is losing trees to high grain prices.
The prices have left many farmers with a decision to make – bulldoze trees to maximum profit or leave the trees as windbreaks and habitat plantings for land management.
This month, those sticking with trees are meeting with the 23 Nebraska resource districts to order seedlings from the Nebraska National Forest and Bessey Nursery near Halsey. In 1990, the nursery sold more than 3 million seedlings. In 2010, it was 780,000.
Dennis Adams of the Nebraska Forest Service is part of a group trying to increase plantings to 1.7 million.
He says windbreaks protect topsoil from erosion. They also catch snow that melts and increases soil moisture in the spring.